In these moments
by fortheloveofeclare
Summary: Clare and Drew come from complete opposite social statuses. And after Summer ends, and Jake leaves Clare again, who would ever think that Andrew Torres would be the one to sweep Degrassi's princess off her feet? Love,Hardships, and Crew!
1. Chapter 1

As Clare walked out of the front door to Degrassi, she noticed him out of the corner of her eye. Of course, she knew exactly who it was. And she couldn't keep herself from staring. But she did it at the wrong moment. Because just then, Jake Martin turned to face her. He watched her as she glided down the stairs and she quickly turned her head when her blue eyes met his. He still could not take his eyes off of her. To him, Clare Edwards was charming, adorable, and perfect. And even though that was his stepsister, he was completely and unfortunately in love with her.

He watched her cross the parking lot until someone came up and tapped his arm. "Ready to leave Jakey?" He turned around and moved his eyes to meet the annoying voice of Katie Matlin. On the inside, he wanted so bad to tell her to go and walk away, but he knew, that being with someone else might be the only way to get over Clare.

He nodded to Katie and put her book bag in the truck bed along with his. She giggled like an idiotic schoolgirl and got into the passenger seat of his cherry red truck. As he started to walk to the driver's side door, He caught a glance of Clare. But instead of seeing her walking towards the bus stop, he saw her talking to a guy. The boy's back was turned to Jake, and he had no relocation of who he could be, but then he turned around and gestured towards the car behind him.

Jake hadn't seen Eli since the little cabin party in the end of summer, he had heard he'd been suspended for a while because of some mishap, but he wasn't expecting the return to be so quickly. Jake watched as Clare giggled and laughed at everything Eli had to say. He knew about the two's history, and he started to become angry. His thoughts, plummeted of Eli and Clare being together, and how Eli had tried to destroy what Clare and him had. He thought their ship was done, but could he possibly be wrong? Jake suddenly was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard Katie cough, gesturing it was time to go.

"And then Fiona and I thought it would be hilarious to act like James Bond for a bit, and then Dawes walked in and that my dear Clarebear is how I, got in trouble for bringing a nerf gun to school". Eli finished his story with laughter as Clare giggled along side of him. She was actually enjoying Eli's presence. It was a nice change from what used to be.

Clare heard a car door slam and looked across the parking lot as Eli went on to talk about his new car. She looked to see Jake stare right at her, almost piercing right into her with his eyes. She quickly returned her eyes to Eli, and continued with the conversation, but secretly wondered what Jake had to say.

_"What should I care? He wants to be with Katie, that's fine with me."_ Clare thought to herself. Suddenly she realized Eli was talking to her.

"Clare, are you okay?"

"Oh..umm yeah Eli, it's nothing." She looked for Jake's truck, but watched it pull out of the driveway.

"Want a ride? I'm going to the Dot anyways, Hazel Latte, My treat?" Eli carefully opened the passenger door to Clare. Without any hesitation, Clare jumped in. As Eli started to drive towards the dot, memories of Jake crossed her mind. She then decided to just forget about Jake Martin like he did to her.

Just then, Clare's phone went off in her pocket, she fished it out and opened it to find a text from an unknown number that she'd never seen before. She scrolled down the screen to read

"If ur not bsy, Meet me the park. 7 PM. Don't b late ;) "

Clare closed it. She had no idea who it could be, the number was sure as hell not Jake's, and no one else she knew either. But with being Clare, she had a taste of curiosity on who it might be. She decided that night, she'd find out just who this person was, and what they wanted to do with Clare.

Top of Form


	2. Catch Me

Although Clare was enjoying Eli's company, She was anxious for the time to move along. She texted her new best friend Bianca all of the details. And Bee was just as anxious as well. She wanted to go to the park with Clare but sadly, she signed up to chaperone the freshman dance as part of her senior duties. So Clare had to go alone.

As she finished her latte, she started to say her goodbyes to Eli. She gave him a quick hug, threw out her cup, and promised to hang out with him again soon, and for once in a while, actually intended on keeping that promise.

She started to walk out of the door of the Dot she turned her Ipod on to shuffle and tried to block out the rest of the world. But of course, it came to an end when she turned down Maple Street just in time to catch a glimpse of Jake's truck pulling out of Katie's driveway and started driving towards her way. She tried pulling her bomber leather jacket up more, and kept her face down so he wouldn't recognize her, and it would've worked to if it weren't for those auburn curls of hers. He pulled the truck up right next to her on the sidewalk.

"Need a ride home? I'm on my way there now, " He tried to smile at her, but she didn't want courtesy, she wanted answers. And she knew now was not the time to ask them. "No Jake, I'm not headed that way anyways, I'm going to the park for a bit". She said with a stern expression. He looked a bit down but then asked "Want Company? I've got nothing else to do". She hated this. He broke up with her, left her to herself all Summer, came home one day and said he still loved her, and then the next day hooked up with Katie Matlin?

"Clare, are you okay?" Her thoughts were interrupted. She returned her eyes to his face to see a concerned look painted on his face. "Why don't you go home and have Katie over and be with her Jake? Besides, I'm not in the mood to feel like last place anyways". Clare scoffed and started to walk again. Jake on the other hand, watched her walk away in the mirror and started to drive off.

Clare approached the park at 6:45. She looked around at the small area to see she was the only one there, besides a few trees, some benches, old swings, and a gorgeous view of the moon rising over the frosted lake. She pulled out her phone and read the text over and over again. Her mind became filled with thoughts of who it could be. She found herself daydreaming until she got tapped on the shoulder.

"Hey there Clare" She turned around in time just to meet eyes with a tall, fair skinned, big blue eyed, brown hair, and amazingly gorgeous Drew Torres. Clare had known Drew for a while, seeing she was best friends with his younger brother Adam. Plus there was the Cabin Incident when he helped find her and calmed her down when Clare walked in onto Jake hooking up with Alli. He also knew he had been dating her best friend, Jenna.

"Hey Drew, how's it going?" Clare asked while taking out her ear buds and shutting down her Ipod. "I'm alright, " He said sliding next to her on the bench. "How about yourself?"

Clare looked at her phone and saw it was 7:01, and started to think the text was just a prank. "I've seen better time to be honest, but I got this text a few hours ago saying be here at seven, and not to be late, but I'm starting to think it was just a prank. Oh well, corny way to try to talk to a girl anyways". Clare shrugged her shoulders and stared off into the lake.

Drew started to laugh and agree with her. He asked her how she and Jake were doing. She went into explanation how things had hit a rough patch and they were no longer together. As she went on, Drew couldn't take his eyes off her. He stared her up and down, and found her beautiful. He already knew everything about her and Jake, he had heard from his girlfriend Jenna, who was always in the center of the gossip.

"Uhh Drew?" Clare nudged his shoulder. Drew snapped out of his gaze on Clare and began to realize she had been trying to ask him something. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he stuttered, tripping over his words trying to collect himself. "I asked how are things between you and Jenna?" Clare laughed and started to look directly into Drew's eyes. She noticed how his eyes were a deeper, warming, blue. Unlike her pale blue ones. His were enchanting. Almost hypnotizing. She was entranced.

"We're not that great" He started and Clare snapped back to reality. "Lately, all we do is fight. Things aren't working out well, She's always getting on my nerves, and we broke up last night" His voice trailed off. He was sick of trying to find someone he could actually make things work with. Ever since Alli, things hadn't been going well on the relationship track. He had the issues with Bianca, and then Katie cheating on him with a guy at soccer camp, he was really hoping Jenna would be a great change. But it was the same old.

"I'm sorry to hear that Drew, If you ever need someone to talk to I'm here" Clare put her hand on his shoulder and started to smile. He couldn't help but smile back. But then, something started to come over him. Something he wasn't expecting. Something that wasn't planned. He was caught, in the intriguing look of Clare Edwards. He felt his hand go to hers that was on his shoulder and he gripped it, She didn't hesitate to fight against it. Little did he know, she was trapped in this overcome too. He took his other hand, and cupped her face, but continued having his eyes locked on hers.

He slowly started to approach her face, and soon enough, their lips met. The last thing Clare expected was to be kissing Drew Torres on a park bench under the moonlight, but it was happening. And it felt surprisingly right. Drew pulled himself back to look into Clare's eyes. Her expression, shocked. His, speechless. The sudden realization of what just happened occurred to both of them. Although Drew knew it was probably a bad thing to be kissing his Ex's best friend, he couldn't help but want more, and he was intending on getting it. He leaned in again and started to kiss her, this time, more familiar, but she couldn't stop smiling through it.

All of a sudden, headlights began to shine on the two, and Clare pulled back and found herself starring right at Jake. He got out of his truck and walked towards the two on the bench. Jake, glaring at Drew, started to speak. "Helen sent me to get you Clare, She wants you home for dinner." Clare refused to meet his eyes. Jake turned back and stormed off to his truck, Clare returned her face to Drew who seemed surprised, but still speechless of what just occurred. "I have to go, I'm…I'm sorry." She started to grab her bags, and turned to walk towards the truck. Drew grabbed her arm. He pulled her to meet her eyes again, "Meet me here tomorrow, at midnight, promise me you will?" His face waiting for an answer. Clare was caught staring in his eyes until Jake honked his truck horn. "Yes, I promise." She ran towards the truck, and shut her door and tried to ignore the tension filled ride home with thoughts of what just happened. Drew watched the truck drive away quickly, and walked home, thinking the same. As he walked home, he realized. He was completely and perfectly in love with Clare Edwards.


End file.
